THE ADOPTION OPTION: WHAT IF?

Photo: “Drake Motel” by Sam Howzit is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
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Yesterday morning news broke out across our city that a 6-week old baby had been found dead at a local motel.

This news is a tragedy. It’s a tragedy that a baby died. It’s a tragedy that the baby’s parents were so embedded in crisis, that reaching out for help eluded them. While it might seem that anger towards the parents is where energy is best spent, the reality is they are broken, hurting people. Hurting more today than yesterday. Hurting people hurt people. It’s a messy reality. This is a tragedy.
When our staff hear stories like this, a child’s life lost, we grieve. We often toss around “what if” scenarios. Wondering, had these parents known they had the option to make an adoption plan for their child, outside of CPS and the foster care system, would this child’s life have been saved. Wishing we just had the opportunity to speak hope into their lives, to love them, to encourage them, to come alongside them and connect them to resources and care.

What if we just had the chance to talk over a cup of coffee? Would we be telling a different story today? Our efforts to love them may not have been welcomed…but they might have.

The Adoption Option…the option to make an adoption plan. The option for birth parents to CHOOSE a family for their child(ren), outside of the state foster care system and CPS, needs to become front and center. The option to tell a better story, to react out of the love birth parents have for their child(ren), even amidst crisis.

Choosing Hope Adoptions is licensed to place Ohio born children ages newborn through 6 years old into home study approved adoptive families. We come alongside the expectant and birth families to help them make a plan for their child(ren).

It is our deepest desire that every parent facing an untimely pregnancy would know they have the option of making an adoption plan for their baby. It is our hope that every parent facing losing their child(ren) to the foster system would know they have an option…that they have the RIGHT, to make an adoption plan for their child(ren). That they can choose a family for their child, that they can have an ongoing open adoption, that their child will always know their birth parents loved them so much that they chose a life filled with hope for them.
Whether or not birth parents choose to parent or make an adoption plan for their child, that child always remains in their LEGACY.

What if the parents of the baby that died yesterday had known about The Adoption Option?